To:
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi

Alan Grayson: The perfect Democrat to fight back against Republicans' Benghazi witch hunt

We urge you to appoint Florida Representative Alan Grayson as the sole Democratic member of the House Select Committee to Investigate Benghazi, or appoint no one at all.

Why is this important?

Speaker Boehner bowed to the most paranoid elements of the right-wing by appointing a Select Committee to Investigate Benghazi to conduct yet another fishing expedition around the tragic 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. This Committee is being pursued after bi-partisan committees in both the House and Senate have already generated tens of thousands of documents about the causes and events surrounding that day.

In protest of Republican rules granting Chairman Trey Gowdy unilateral subpoena power, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has yet to appoint minority members. Democrats received no guarantee they will be allowed access to interview witnesses before public testimony is given.

Regardless of Democratic participation, there is no doubt this committee is, in Nancy Pelosi’s words, a “political stunt”—simply the latest attempt by Republicans to convert tragedy into scandal.

The committee hearings will undoubtedly be yet another repackaged witch hunt around Benghazi as members of the Republican party keep callously raising money off of a tragedy costing lives of four Americans.

The process will undoubtedly waste millions of dollars and thousands of hours, ultimately to reach the same conclusion as investigations conducted by the Accountability Review Board, the Senate Intelligence Committee, the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

With limited power, House Democrats cannot afford to cede this committee room to Republicans, who will use televise hearings to parade their Benghazi myths unimpeded by any respect for facts, responsibilities to reach the truth and in a manner completely unhinged from reality.

Trey Gowdy has cast himself as prosecutor, necessitating Democrats provide a countervailing force focused solely on the truth. There is only one option for Democrats to appoint as the ONLY member to the committee: Florida Representative Alan Grayson.

The pugnacious former litigator has demonstrated the exact skill set needed to cut through the Republican mythology, the work ethic necessary to fully immerse himself in the issue, and the temperament to weather the blistering attacks sure to come from the conservative media.

In the aftermath of the Iraq War, Grayson’s courtroom prowess resulted in millions of dollars in judgments against war profiteers. This skill was on display in September when the congressman used his five minutes as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee to dismantle conservative Benghazi mythology while questioning Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy.

Too often members of Congress waste their limited time in the committee room on questions that are nothing more than self-congratulatory statements. Grayson has never demonstrated the compunction for these sorts of legislative prerogatives.

Even worse are when hearings degenerate into meandering soliloquies that never provide any relevant information. Grayson has a clear track record, demonstrated during his tenure Finance Committee, of asking questions designed to craft specific narratives and elicit from witnesses—both friendly and hostile—clear answers.

It’s this talent Democrats need on the select committee on Benghazi—one for which Grayson’s gift is well-proven. Join me urging Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint Representative Alan Grayson as the sole Democratic member of the Select Committee to Investigate Benghazi.